Cloth-folding machine



($0 Model.)

J. D. ELLIOT.

CLOTH FOLDING MAGHINE.

No. 342,190. Patented May 18, 1886.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH D. ELLIOT, OF NEWTON CENTRE, MASSACHUSETTS.

CLOTH-FOLDING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 342,190, dated May 18,1886 Application filed November 16, 1585.

Si rial X0. 182,950. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

! which I show my improvement is an inven Be it known that I, JOSEPH D.ELLIOT. of tion of my own, known as the Elliot Clot-h- Newton Centre, inthe county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a newImprovementin Cloth-FoldingMachines; and I dohereby declare thefollowing, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings andthe letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, and which said drawings c0nstitutepart of thisspecification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a side view of so much of the folding-machine as is necessaryfor the illustration of my invention; Fig. 2, a top view of the centralportion of the table, showing the slot and cutter; Fig. 3, a partiallongitudinal section showing a side view of the cutter and its operativemechanism; Fig. 4, a transverse sec tion showing a view of the samemechanism in a direction at right angles to that in Fig. 3.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of machines forfolding cloth in which the folds are successively laid upon a table,each fold being caught by a jaw at the respective ends of the table, thecloth being carried by the folder first to one jaw at one end of thetable, then across the table, under the opposite jaw, then returned,and, so continuing, laying successive folds of equal length.

In the manufacture of salt-bags and bags for many other uses the clothis cut twice the length of the bag and doubled at the bottom, the twoedges being stitched together to complete the bag.

The object of my invention is to combine with a cloth-folding machinesuch as I have before mentioned a device by which the material fromwhich the bags are to be made, being laid in folds of twice the lengthof asingle bag, may be mechanically cut transversely of the folds and inlengths required for the bags; and the invention consists in combiningwith a cloth-folding machine a revolving cutter adapted to be movedtransversely across the table after the successive folds of cloth havebeen laid, and whereby the several folds will be transversely cut, andas more fully hereinafter described.

The folding -machine in connection with Folder, and for which LettersPatent have been granted to me, Nos. 32,761, 64,208, and 125.493; but itis applicable to other clot-hi'olding machines.

A represents the folding'table, suitably supported; B, the jaw at oneend, and G the jaw at the opposite end, the table and jaws being adaptedto engage each successive fold as it is presented.

D is thefolder through which the cloth runs, and to which reciprocatingmovement is imparted to take it from one side. At each extreme of thetable the cloth is forced between the jaw and table, and there caught.The folder, returning to the opposite side, will deliver the doubledcloth to the opposite jaw and return, and, so continuing, will laysuccessive folds upon the table. l

A detailed description of the folding mechanism is unnecessary, itbeingsubstantially that shown in numerous patents heretofore granted tome on improvements in cloth-fold ing machines.

E represents the carriage beneath the table, arranged upon a transversebar, F, parallel with the table, and so as to be moved transverselyacross the machine beneath the table, and it may be so moved by meansofa rod, G, attached to the slide, and extending through an opening inthe side of the frame, as at H, and provided with a handle, I, upon theoutside, by which the operator may move the slide transversely acrossthe machine and return. The bar F is supported in vertical guides a a,and so that it may be raised up and down, as occasion may require; andto so raise and lower the bar F a lever, L, is provided, hung upon afulcrum, b, one arm extending toward one end of the machine in aconvenient position for the operator to apply his hand thereto, theother arm connected by a rod, d, to the bar F. As here represented,parallel rods 0 extend from the bar F down through the guides a c, andthe rod d is connected to one of the rods 6, as seen in Figs. 3 and 4,and so that as the operator applies his hand to the lever L and pressesthereon he may raise the bar F, and with it the slide E,

as from the position seen in Figs. 3 and 4 to the position seen inbroken lines, same figures.

On the slide E is a circular cutter, M, arranged in suitable bearings onthe slide, and provided with a pu1ley,f, through which rapid rotationmay be imparted to the cutter. At some convenient point below the slidea shaft, 1, is arranged, to which revolution is imparted by theapplication of power thereto in the usual manner of imparting revolutionto shafts, and on this shaft is a pulley, h.

Between the slide E and the shaftgare two arms, N and P. One end of thearm N is hung to the shaft 9, and one end of the arm P is hung to theshaft of the cutter. The other ends of the two arms N P are hingedtogether, as at 2'. At the point i, and concentric therewith, a shaft,Z, is arranged, carrying a pul ley, m, corresponding to the pulley h onthe shaft 9, and also carrying a second pulley, 0, corresponding to thepulleyf on the cuttershaft. An endless band, r, runs from the pulley itover the pulley m, and a second endless band, 8, runs from the pulley 0around the pulleyf on the cutter-shaft, and so that revolution impartedto the shaftg is communicated to the revolving cutter M. Directly overthe cutter, and in a plane parallel with the bar F, a slot, t, is madethrough the table. In its normal condition the cutter stands at one sideof the machine and below the table. By raising the bar F, as beforedescribed, the cutter is brought up through the slot in the table, asindicated in broken lines, Figs. 3 and 4., and when so raised, if theslide carrying the cutter be drawn toward the opposite side of thetable, the cutter will pass across the table in its up position, asindicated in broken lines, Fig. 4. The hinged arms N P permit thismovement of the cutter without interference with its revolution, thisconnection of the arms N and P being a common mechanical device forimparting rotation to an axis movable in a plane at right anglesthereto.

The folding apparatus is arranged to lay folds in length correspondingto two bags, and the slot in the table divides that length at the pointdesired, so that adouble fold each side the slit will form a single bag.

After the cloth has been laid in successive folds upon the table to theextent desired the folding ceases. Then the operator raises therevolving cutter through the slot and draws it across the table, cuttingthe several folds transversely. Then the cutter may be dropped andreturned beneath the table, ready for the next operation. The folds soout are removed from the table, and each double fold lies in conditionfor stitching the sides to complete the bag. This operation of cuttingthe folds on the machine not only insures a perfect uniformity of cut,but enables it to be done by power, and without additional handling,thus making a considerable saving of expense in themanufacture of thisclass of bags.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting my invention to theparticular construction shown and described, whereby the cutter is madeto travel across the table, as numerous mechanical equivalents may besubstituted for the devices I have shown; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. A table and a folder adapted to lay successive folds upon the saidtable, with a device at each end of the table adapted to engage thefolds as they are successively laid, the said table constructed with aslot transversely across it, in combination with a revolving cutterarranged in the plane of said slot and below the table, said cutteradapted to be raised through said slot, and then moved transverselyacross the table through said slot, substantially as described.

2. The combination of thetable constructed with a transverse slot, t,vertical guides beneath said table, a transverse guide arranged on saidvertical guides and parallel with said slot, a slide on said transverseguide, and a revolving cutter arranged upon said slide, the plane of thecutter being in the plane of said slot, with mechanism, substantiallysuch as described, to impart rotation to said cutter, substantially asand for the purpose described.

J. D. ELLIOT.

A nun M

